For people nowadays, the constant exchange of people, goods and ideas and their interaction across wide distances are a part of everyday life. However, such encounters and interregional links are by no means only a recent phenomenon, although the forms they have taken in the course of history have varied. It goes without saying that travel to distant regions was spurred by various interests, first and foremost economic and imperialist policies, which reached an initial climax around 1500 with the European expansion to the Americas and into the Indian Ocean. The motivations of European travellers for venturing to the regions of maritime and mainland Southeast Asia, which are the focus of the studies presented here, were manifold, ranging from the pursuit of power, commercial exploitation, intellectual curiosity and the aspiration to proselytize among indigenous people. This book adds to existing knowledge on travel, travel experiences and travel writing by Europeans in mainland and insular Southeast Asia from the 16th to the 21st century, based on specific case studies. Moreover, it demonstrates how Europeans perceived religion in the region presently known as Southeast Asia. Working on the assumption that many of the European traders, seafarers, explorers and administrators arriving in Southeast Asia came as Christians, convinced of the superiority of their religion, the contributors to this volume analyse their encounters with Muslims, who had been their long-standing enemies in the Mediterranean, and with Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of local religions. They involve themselves closely with the travelogues and the role of religions therein, and, in doing so, reveal the ways in which religion influenced the travellers’ understanding of societies in maritime and mainland Southeast Asia. The volume explores a number of questions, including: How did European travellers perceive religion in different regions of Southeast Asia in different historical periods? How did the administrators, the missionaries, the natural historians and the explorers position themselves vis-à-vis Islam and Buddhism on Java and in Siam? And what do travel accounts tell us about the way Southeast Asian people perceived the Europeans?

The world needs to know what is happening in Spain. Visiting tourists are served beautiful beaches, sports and gastronomy numbing their senses. There are many "things" going on in this glorious nation that never make the headlines in their home countries. Important "things" since they ultimately determine the state of Europe and its position in the world.The EU, which has focused strongly on expansion, is fractionalizing. Politicians, who follow outdated economic indicators, fail to see what is really going on. They are clueless! Economic indicators and corruption are measured "post-action". Therefore, they are merely consequences and not the causes of social-economic turmoil.How can Europeans, speak of human rights issues in China, when thousands of women are working in "alegal" prostitution in Spain? Many of whom were brought to Spain under false pretenses. Not to speak of the 100,000 African immigrants who work and live under slave-like conditions in Almeria.Close to 30% of Spanish citizens lives on the verge of poverty. A number, which will not improve shortly. The EU keeps on pouring money into the largest single beneficiary, but "Espanistan" keeps on wasting it. It has the richest politicians and former politicians in Europe. The country is run by an invisible force that goes by many names (e.g. la casta, el tinglado). This force places itself above the law and overturns Supreme Court rulings, replaces critical judges in important cases, silences and bribes witnesses and exercises the outdated "gag-law". A law that clearly contradicts freedom of speech. Unfortunately, the corrupt practices of politicians rub off on corporate structures and society and the country has proven - time and time again - it cannot run its EU-course without intervention. IT IS NOT WHAT IT IS reveals 7 characteristics that function as a handbrake on Spain's development and shows the devastating effects of a conformist's attitude when applied on a national level. ***"The way you look at Spain will never be the same again." - Brian Larsen, CEO Bancore ***"Let's imagine (...) this Dutch immigrant is right and his criticisms are for our own good... If this was not a written article, an image of a "SPLASH!" would be next. A slap in the face to wake us up from our false national dream." - José Luis Roig, Spanish political analist (La Información) *** Featured in Huffingtonpost, Euronews, TV and 7 radio stations ***VINCENT WERNEREconomist, consultant and lecturer. Werner has worked with companies like ABN AMRO, L'Oréal and Apple. He has lived in Spain for more than 18 years, where he advised hundreds of people and companies on starting up their ventures.

This interdisciplinary Work engages with the issue of how Europe and Europeans were perceived by observers from various parts of the world during the early modern period. It seeks thereby to redress the asymmetry in scholarship whereby European views of its "others" are given importance, but a near-total silence prevails about the reverse scenario. This volume contains nine dazzling contributions by distinguished scholars such as Suzanne Preston Blier, Vincent Carretta, Michael Fisher, Ronnie Po-chia Hsia, Hans-Juergen Luesbrink, Nabil Matar, Nancy Shoemaker, Irene Silverblatt, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. These essays represent sophisticated and rigorous scholarship that is historically aware and highly nuanced. The findings suggest that early modern perceptions about Europe and Europeans were shaped by complex, contingent factors and cannot be reduced to a simple, single paradigm.

The memoir of a precocious Spanish girl. Atthe age of 11, a woman-friend of her father is so charmedby her, she suggests her husband tutor the girl. Whereupon the girl seduces the husband. The book waspublished in 1945 in Spain and this is its first appearancein English.

European intrusions had many impacts on invaded peoples, but less attention has often been paid to changes brought about by the encounter in everyday life and behaviour, both for the Europeans and the other cultures. What changed in diet, dress, agriculture, warfare and use of domesticated animals, for example ? To what degree were attitudes, and thus behaviours affected ? How did changes in the use of types of firearm reorder power structures, indeed lead to the rise and fall of competing local states ? Even the design and planning of houses and cities were affected. This volume looks at such changes in the early centuries of European expansion.